Thursday, March 27, 2014

By the
time I pulled into the parking lot at the Holiday Inn Express in
Cocoa, Florida, the Marines were up to their armpits in the battle of
Peleliu. Traveling the two hundred miles alone from Port Charlotte to
the TAC Missileer mini-reunion in Cocoa allowed me to indulge myself
in music I normally do not crank up at home, and I relished the
opportunity to play all of Richard Rodger's Victory at Sea on
my iPod from start to to finish without interruption. Through the
car's stereo, of course. And as loud as I wanted! Peleliu, by the
way, is the 3rd cut on the “B” side of volume 2 in the
set, or about 150 miles or so into the whole playlist. I won’t listen to Victory at Sea on the return trip,
but it was a blast listening to it once again after all these years!

Just like the tour of old memories at the Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station. I was in
Cocoa, Florida, to attend a TAC Missileer mini-reunion conceived and planned by Max Butler, Membership Director/Treasurer of
the TAC Missileers Association. It was all put together in about six
weeks.

Dave Cooper, Max Butler, Len Calkins, George Mindling

Max did
another one of his bang-up jobs putting the mini-reunion together.
Having a get-together for dinner is something many of us missileers
who live in Florida, especially during the winter months, have talked
about off and on for several years. Max finally said “Let's do it,”
so we did. Originally planned as an informal get-together for those
who would make a day trip for the meeting, it soon became clear most
wanted more than just dinner, and soon the mini-reunion was open to
all TAC missileers.

Max arranged a very special tour of the Air Force
Space and Missile Museum located at the Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station to be held on Friday, March 21st. Max also arranged an
air-conditioned tour bus to pick up our 35 or so members and guests
at the Holiday Inn Express in Cocoa at nine am. Collecting names and
license numbers, and some other info required ahead of time, made
access to the normally restricted facility easy.

An
informal dinner was held Thursday evening at a local Barbeque
restaurant for those out-of-towners who arrived a day early. The
restaurant cordially handled the unexpected twenty guests with
aplomb. Most of Thursday's arrivals stayed at the Holiday Inn Express
in Cocoa, also arranged by Max. Jim and Susan Cagle from Atlanta may
have traveled the furthest of the attendees, while many missileers
lived in the surrounding area and drove to the hotel on Friday
morning. Several missileers brought wives and their grown children,
and even grandkids for the tour. Everyone met at the hotel Friday
morning to board the big, white bus for a tour of the area, where for
some of us TAC Missileers, it all started.

We were
soon craning our necks trying to remember where Camp Happiness was
located as we drove into the area many of us had only seen from blue
Air Force school buses when we toured the facility back in the late
50's and early 60's. Port Canaveral has altered beyond any
recognition, and will continue to do so as it grows to its planned
facility as the largest cruise ship port in the United States. The
old days are long gone.

Inside the Blockhouse at Pad 26

We stopped
by the entrance to the Space and Missile Museum to pick up our tour
guide, Jim Hale. Jim, a retired Air Force veteran, had a clear,
resonant voice and an in-depth knowledge of the museum that captured
everyone’s attention. Our first stop at the Blockhouse on pad 26,
launch place of Explorer, the US's first satellite, displayed Jim's
astonishing knowledge and familiarity with the Cape and its history. The Blockhouse was the first stop on our four and half hour tour, and
gave Roger St. Germain the honor of “launching” a missile. From
there we toured the open display area known as the “Missile Garden”
and the adjacent Exhibit Hall. Again, Jim's fascinating explanations
and descriptions brought special meaning to the displays.

Jim Hale explains a rocket motor on display in the Exhibit Hall

The bus
tour eventually led to an area many of us have seen in the past, the
old maintenance area, and just a few yards beyond, Pads 21 and 22,
the Mace B launch pads that have recently been restored. While we
didn't get to walk the area, it was still impressive to see the old
launch pads. They looked like they had just been vacated.

The Exhibit Hall

The next
stop at Complex 14 on ICBM Road allowed us a look at the
pad where not only the first American ICBM was launched, but where
John Glenn hurtled into space aboard an Atlas
LV-3B carrying a Mercury
capsule known as Friendship 7, putting an American astronaut
in orbit for the first time.

Pads 21 & 22 - Mace "B" launch pads

The next stop was Complex 34, site of
the accident that killed astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White II,
and Roger Chaffee. The massive complex remains as a silent monument
to all those who served and gave their lives in service to our
country. We dismounted the bus for an extensive walking tour of the
pad.

Hangar “R”
was our last stop of the day, and for many of us, was a nostalgic
moment. Hangar R has a unique collection of early missiles and
rockets, including the original Matador named “Florida Ranger”
that graced the entrance to Orlando Air Force Base. Orlando Air Force
Base is where almost everyone who served in the Matador or Mace
missile programs was trained. Also in the Hangar “R” collection
is a Mace sitting on a beautifully restored translauncher.

John Gibbs, 1st PBS, Bitburg

One of the
amazing, delightful, memories of this tour was meeting John Gibbs, a
former member of the 1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron. The 1st PBS, the very first operational, combat ready missile squadron in the United States Air Force, trained at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station before its deployment to Bitburg, Germany, in March of 1954. John contributed many details and stories used in Bob Bolton's and my book, U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles 1949 -1969 The Pioneers, including the incident when a Matador dumped nose-first over its launcher in an aborted launch. John was in the detail sent into the palmetto scrub to find the missing hold-back bolt. John is also one of the few people we have a photograph of while on duty with a tactical missile. In the section on Wheelus, figure 18, page 138, John is the airman on the far left with his elbow up. It was a very special moment meeting John and his beautiful wife of 51 years, Dianne. They are tentatively planning on attending the reunion in Boston next year.While
every missile in the collection has been painstakingly restored, both
the Matador and the Mace missiles have been restored to astonishing
condition. A group photo was taken in front of the Mace, and of
course I had to get a photo of John Gibbs in front of the Matador.

George Mindling with Jim Hale, tour guide extraodinaire.

I had
another highlight of the trip that I hadn't expected: Jim Hale asked
me to sign his copy of our book! That was an honor for me. I
certainly appreciate the time and patience Jim took with our diverse
group, answering every question and handling every comment with
professionalism and charm. Anyone who gets Jim as a guide of the
Space and Missile Museum will have a special insight to the Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station and its history.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Revelations come at the
oddest times. My latest one came while I was preparing a photo album
for our five year old granddaughter, Claire. I needed a name for the
book, a simple title such as “Happy Birthday, Claire” just didn't
appeal to me. I played around with names and fonts, spacing and
colors, then, out of the blue, my muse typed “Clair 5.0” in a
red, none serif font. I studied the unexpected title, then realized
it was perfect for an active, fast growing young girl.

Being a computer nerd, I
have been familiar with software release numbers for years. Every
base number of a program release denotes a major version or year,
such as Microsoft Windows which made the second release of Windows
3.0 famous. It was windows 3.1 and set the standard not only for
personal computing software, but for program numbering as well.

Since our granddaughter
would be five, I picked Claire 5.0 as the perfect title for her photo book. Only two months after her fifth birthday she would be smarter,
faster, taller, a slightly different young girl. By June, using my logic, she would be Claire 5.2.

Using that same standard,
I'm 71.4, and that changes my outlook on everything. Next month I'll
be 71.5 and my unstoppable progress toward my eventual demise becomes
even more definable. Telling people only your age gives you a
whole year of wiggle room. No one knows if you just turned your age,
or if you are about to roll over to your next one. Saying I'm 71 is a
whole lot different than saying I'm 71.4. But, on the other hand, it
is kind of cool to say exactly how old I am, although I'm not sure 71.4 is
any better or smarter than 71.3, - I'm sure there is a point of
diminishing improvement - but experience must count for something,
right?

Five dot oh, was exactly
what I wanted, but, unfortunately my wife wasn't impressed with my
wry sense of humor. Well, I think it's wry. So, anyway, the name of
the book will be “Claire.” That works for everybody. Even George
71.4.